WWE Hall of Famer Nikolai Volkoff passes away on Sunday at the age of 70

WWE Hall of Famer Nikolai Volkoff passed away on Sunday at the age of 70 after undergoing a hospital stay just days earlier for dehydration and other issues.

Volkoff is most known for his time in the WWE from the 1970s to the 1990s, winning the WWE Tag Team Titles on multiple occasions, notably with fellow Hall of Famer The Iron Sheik at the first WrestleMania in 1985.

Volkoff will go down as one of the most famous foreign villains in pro wrestling history with his Russian persona, although Volkoff (real name Josip Nikolai Peruzovi) wasn’t actually Russian and was Croatian.

Volkoff was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 and last appeared for WWE in a backstage vignette with Rusev and Lana in 2014, singing the Russian National Anthem as he would famously do before his matches.

On behalf of the staff at Wrestleview.com, we send out our condolences to the family and friends of Volkoff during this tough time.